A DETAILED CONSIDERATION OF FEATURES PECULIAR TO THE BATH.
It is scarcely necessary to say anything more as to the subsidiary
apartments of a Turkish bath. Such adjuncts as the entrance hall and
vestibule, the pay office, refreshment department, laundry and
drying-rooms, hairdressing and attendants' rooms, and other minor
provisions, are obviously simple matters, requiring little or no
detailed explanation. Sufficient has already been said about them to
enable the architect, assisted by the drawings given, to design them
with convenience and economy. The features peculiar to the bath are
those requiring careful consideration. It is upon the design of the hot
rooms, the cooling rooms, and the washing rooms that the success or
non-success of a new bathing establishment depends, and too much study
cannot be given to these apartments.
THE SUDORIFIC CHAMBERS.
These are now generally required in a suite of three--"first, second,
and third hot." The first is the tepidarium, and must be by far the
largest of the three, since in it the greater number of bathers will
assemble at one time. The last must be the hottest room--the
laconicum--and need only be a very small one, as but few bathers use
it, and that, generally, for a very short time. The second hot room
should be about midway, in size and temperature, between the first and
the third. Of a given area allotted to the hot rooms, from one-half to
two-thirds may be devoted to the tepidarium, and from one-third to
one-half to the super-heated rooms, always remembering that it is well
to err on the side of providing a large and roomy tepidarium. Of the
space allowed for the smaller rooms, one-quarter to one-third may be
given to the hottest, and the remaining space to the second hot-room,
or calidarium.
The hot rooms, it should be remembered, are strictly bath rooms, and
must be treated as such; that is to say, the whole of the floors, walls,
ceilings, partitions, and fittings, must be capable of being frequently
cleansed with water. The choice of materials to be employed for lining
the walls, &c., is therefore limited. And in two ways. For not only must
they be of this washable nature, but they must be of a character to
resist the influence of the heat. Happily, this is an age of
glazed-ware and vitrified goods of every description. Glazed and
fire-burnt bricks and tiles, terracottas, faïence, and pottery
generally, are now so extensively manufactured that there is little
excuse for not constructing a bath throughout of materials at once
washable and unaffected by high temperatures. Still, in baths where
rigid economy must be studied, and lowness of cost is the great object,
_plaster_ may be placed upon the walls of the hot rooms, and in its way
will answer admirably, and be fairly washable. It has even one
advantage--it does not become unbearably hot to the touch, should the
bather lean against the walls, whereas, with a highly glazed surface the
walls become burning hot, and need lining with a dado of felt or other
non-conducting substance. And since this latter method overcomes the
objection named, the best possible material for lining the walls is
glazed brickwork. In cases where elaboration is desired, they may be
lined with marbles and faïence. With a judicious selection of colours,
however, a very pleasing appearance can be given by the employment of
simple glazed brickwork, and at a very moderate cost.
The flooring in cheap baths is admirably formed by simple unglazed tile
pavement over concrete. A slight roughness is very agreeable to the
feet. Glazed tiles are inadmissible, as they become too hot for the
naked feet; and if the slightest moisture come upon them they are
rendered dangerously slippery. In elaborate baths, marble, and marble
mosaics may be used, but the surface must not be too smooth. In
providing floorings, the greatest care should be taken to avoid anything
liable to become slippery to the tread.
Floors of ordinary-sized baths, where the soil is reliable, may be of 6
in. of concrete, with mosaics or tiles laid in cement. The benches for
reclining and shampooing must be built up from this with half-brick
risers and glazed fronts, having weathered marble slabs with rounded
nosings, as illustrated at Fig. 3.
The ceilings of the fire and heat-proof floors, which, when there are
other apartments above, _must_ be provided over the hot rooms, may be of
plaster. But the heat at the ceiling level is very great, and the
plaster here rapidly darkens and blackens, and in this state looks
anything but attractive in a place where the mere suspicion of
uncleanliness is nauseating. If employed (and this remark also applies
to plaster on walls), it should be used in the simplest manner possible,
without the slightest attempt at modelling the surface. Enamelled iron
may be used, with effect, for ceilings. The little laconicum is best
covered with a flat vault, the soffit being of glazed bricks, and the
springing being brought down below the main ceiling level.
Fire-proof floors over hot rooms may be of any design that is also
heat-proof. The main point is to have a sufficient thickness of
concrete, and the iron joists and cross girders well buried therein.
Ordinary floors may be rendered heat-proof by partially filling the
space between ceiling and floorboards with sawdust or sheets of
slag-wool laid on boarding nailed to fillets on the joists. The sawdust
should be filled up to the top of the joists; over this a layer of thick
felt, and the boarding above. This, however, is only a makeshift when
compared with a solid floor of concrete.
When the hot rooms are in a basement in the open, they may be
top-lighted, and the ceiling above need not be a heavy fire-proof
construction. A sufficient air space, however, must be provided between
the ceiling and roof, to prevent irradiation of heat--a remark that
applies also to anything in the shape of a window in the sudatorium. It
must be double, or look into an area covered with pavement lights. In
the case of a top-lighted room there must be a ceiling-light and a
skylight.
Where the hot rooms are constructed quite above ground, consideration
must be given to the prevention of loss of heat by radiation. This may
be effected by providing thick hollow walls, the cavity being often
usefully employed for the extraction of the vitiated air.
Heat permeating other apartments and neighbouring premises is a frequent
source of trouble to the builder of a Turkish bath, but is always the
result of want of study of the subject on the part of the designer. The
evil may be successfully combated if it be resolved that no hot room,
shampooing room, or lavatorium shall be constructed without a thick
concrete floor above, and that the furnace chamber be perfectly and
completely insulated. Should the walls of the hot rooms adjoin
apartments to which it is urgently necessary that the heat should be
prevented from being transmitted, they may be rendered heat-proof by
building them hollow and filling the cavity with soot.
Double doors and lobbies must be employed to prevent the transmission of
the heated air to rooms where its presence would be injurious. To keep
the hot air of the bath-rooms from the cooling-rooms, &c., should be the
great aim of the architect. Many baths are rendered quite repulsive by
what I may perhaps term the "sudorific smell" that assails the nostrils
of the visitor entering the vestibule.
The space allotted to the sudatory chambers may be divided into the
various rooms, either by glazed brick walls or by framed and glazed
partitions; or again, they may be formed by a combination of solid
brickwork and glazed woodwork. Any piers in these rooms must be of
brickwork, iron columns being inadmissible. Masonry, too, must be
discarded throughout, or used with caution. Some stones--such as red
Mansfield--become black with exposure to the heat, and others fare still
worse. The employment of porous and absorbent materials must be guarded
against throughout this portion of the bath, as it should be remembered
that effete matters, particles of waste tissue, and possibly the germs
of disease, are continually being given off by the perspiring bathers,
and must be prevented from finding a lodgment.
The best woods for use in the hot rooms are close-grained and free from
essential oils. Mahogany is excellently adapted for the purpose, and so,
also, is teak. Pitch pine must be discarded altogether. Deal, when
employed, should be perfectly seasoned, and may then give trouble from
the exudation of turpentine.
The partitions, and the doorways in them, must be so placed as to govern
the flow of hot air. So long as the main divisions be planned with this
end in view, the separate rooms may be divided and broken up as the
architect may fancy. But the constant flow of the heated air from the
inlet in the hottest room towards the lavatorium must not be interfered
with by recesses, nooks, and corners, or anything that would cause the
current to stagnate. And here we may see the practical advantage
possessed by a bath where the hot rooms are _en suite_, and in a line
with one axis. For here the air sweeps uninterruptedly through the
different chambers without eddying around corners and stagnating in
recesses far out of the main stream.
The doorways in the partitions should not be too lofty. They should not
be hung with doors, as anything necessary in this way will be amply
supplied by depending curtains.
_Glazing_ in the hot rooms requires care. The glass will expand
considerably with the heat, and, what is more, if the furnace fire die
out rapidly at any time, will contract and fracture. This difficulty,
however, is the result of bad management, and does not concern the
architect, unless, indeed, it be the result of improper fixing. Even
moderate-sized sheets of glass should be carefully fixed in chamois
leather with screwed beading, _putty_ being wholly inadmissible. The
sheets of glass should not be of too large dimensions. Rolled glass will
be found the cheapest in the end, as inferior qualities, where
homogeneity of texture is wanting, will crack and split in all
directions. Lead glazing should be altogether discarded.
No provision for draining the hot rooms is necessary, as they must, when
in use, be kept free from moisture. The floor may, however, if thought
desirable, be laid with an imperceptible fall the way the water would be
swept when cleansing--viz. towards the lavatorium.
As the best position for a bather to assume in the sudatorium is one
approaching to the horizontal, a bath cannot be considered complete
unless a liberal number of marble-slabbed benches be provided. These
should run round the solid walls, the risers of the benches being formed
of brickwork--glazed, faced with tiles, or plastered--and white marble
slabs set thereon. These slabs cannot be less than 24 in. wide, and must
be of the ordinary seat height--not lower. In the risers must be
provided a liberal number of "hit-and-miss" ventilator gratings, the
vitiated air finding its way from the space beneath the slabs in the way
designed, which may be into surrounding areas, into hollow walls, or
into a flue or flues running the whole height of the building.
The air at the floor line and that at the ceiling level being of vastly
different temperatures, it follows that an arrangement might be designed
whereby the benches might be stepped in three or four rows, and, by
ascending, the bather could select any temperature he might choose. Such
an arrangement was often employed in the baths of the ancient Romans,
and has been tried in modern institutions; but it should be avoided. The
expirations from the lungs and the exudations from the bodies of the
bathers _fall_, and it therefore follows that all below the first tier
would be breathing air polluted by those above them. The system,
therefore, stands condemned.
As regards height, the sudorific chambers should not be too lofty, or
they cannot, on the ordinary hot-air plan, be heated with due economy.
The vastness of the old Roman tepidarium would have been impracticable
under this system; but with the heat radiating direct from the walls and
the floors, there was no difficulty. It is far better to have a
comparatively low chamber with a constant stream of freshly-heated air
passing through it, than a lofty one with a sluggish current. From 10 to
15 or 16 ft. may be taken as moderate extremes of height in a public
bath. The small third hot room will be less lofty if the heating-chamber
be placed under it; for by raising the floor of the laconicum a few
feet, so as to necessitate ascending to it by a few steps from the level
of the tepidarium, one can more economically construct the furnace
chamber.
This latter, which I have more particularly described and illustrated in
the chapter on heating and ventilation, should, if the system adopted be
on the ordinary hot-air principle, be so placed that an abundant supply
of fresh pure cold air can be obtained for the furnace, which, when
heated, can be delivered into the hottest room above, not less than 5
ft. from the level of the floor of that chamber, and, also, where a
smoke flue of ample section can be constructed. The heated air may be
delivered through the gratings in the walls of the laconicum, or a shaft
of glazed brickwork, of rectangular section, may be constructed against
the end wall and coped at the required level--5 ft. or more above the
floor line. Should the exigencies of the site separate the furnace
chamber from immediate connection with the hottest room, the heated air
must be conducted from the former to the latter by means of a large
shaft or shafts of glazed brickwork. Similar means may have to be
employed to bring the cold air to the heating-chamber, and at the mouth
of this shaft some provision must be made for filtering the air before
it is brought into contact with the heating surfaces of the furnace.
Horizontal and inclined flues for conducting hot or cold air may be
carried from point to point on rolled iron joists having tooled York
slabs set thereon, the flues being constructed of 4-1/2 in. brickwork
with glazed face internally, and covered with tooled York slabs.
Provision must be made, in such flues, for effective cleansing, by means
of iron air-tight doors.
THE LAVATORIUM AND SHAMPOOING ROOM.
The lavatorium and shampooing room now engage our attention. In
elaborate baths they may, for the sake of effect, be distinct
apartments, while, where strict economy must be studied, they may be
comprised in one room; and where, again, space is extremely valuable,
the plunge bath and douche may be also included. If the first
arrangement be adopted, the shampooing room must be connected with the
tepidarium, and the lavatorium placed next. Where the combination
apartment is used, it will take the position of the shampooing room.
Practically, the combination arrangement is the best. It is putting the
bather to needless and undesirable trouble to require him to move from
one apartment to another during the washing process.
The suite of washing and shampooing rooms may be arranged in either one
of the following ways, according to the pretensions and requirements of
the establishment:--(1) A shampooing room, a lavatorium, a douche room,
and a plunge bath chamber; (2) a combined shampooing and washing room,
and a combined douche and plunge bath chamber; (3) several small
combined shampooing and washing rooms, a douche room, and a plunge bath
chamber; (4) an apartment comprising shampooing slabs, washing basins,
douche, &c., and a plunge bath.
A single shampooing room does not present a very complicated problem to
the designer. The chief object to be borne in mind is that the
shampooers require "elbow-room," and their patient in a convenient
position to allow of their practising their art. As this is no light
task--if properly performed--it becomes of urgent moment that the
apartment should be no less perfectly ventilated than a sudorific
chamber. In a vitiated atmosphere, no shampooer can work well for a
prolonged period, and, moreover, pure air is as necessary for the
bathers when in these places, as when they are in the hot rooms.
The shampooing benches may be similar in description and size to those
in the hot rooms. A width of 2 ft. is an ample provision, since the
shampooer can more conveniently work with the bather as near him as
possible. The benches may be constructed in a similar manner to those
before described. They must be arranged on plan so that the shampooer
has ample room, whilst at the same time space is not extravagantly
wasted. The benches must be topped with white marble slabs. They may run
round the wall, or be placed at right angles to them; or, again, if
found more convenient, they may be altogether isolated. Similar means of
ventilating the shampooing and washing rooms as the hot rooms must be
provided. The vitiated air must be extracted at the floor level, as the
temperature here must be maintained considerably above that of respired
air.
Movable wooden-framed marble-topped benches may be substituted for
those of a permanent type; but the plan has nothing to recommend it
except lowness of cost.
The separate lavatorium need not be so large as its adjoining shampooing
room, as here the bathers will not recline, but sit or stand before
washing-basins, to which must be conducted the flow pipes of hot water,
and branches from the cold water supply pipe. These basins--which may be
of glazed earthenware if solid marble cannot be afforded--should be
large and capacious. Of water-fittings I shall speak under the head of
"Appliances."
In a combined shampooing and washing room the benches and basins will be
required together. The basins may be fixed under a hole in the marble
slabs, or affixed to the walls, as may be convenient. Whilst arranging
the position of the benches with regard to the room, and the basins with
regard to the benches, it will be as well to remember the postures that
the bather assumes whilst being shampooed--viz. 1st, sitting; 2nd, on
the back; 3rd, reverse. The basin must be so placed with respect to the
slab that the shampooer may, without altering his position, take water
from the basin with his handbowl, and pour it over the bather. A
shampooer cannot well work with less than 5 ft. 6 in. between his slab
and that of his adjoining fellow, when the slabs are at right angles to
the wall and the adjoining shampooer is also working in the same space
between the two benches. Where the room is long and a row of benches are
placed at right angles to the wall, the shampooers have each their
separate space to work in. Each one can then manage in 4 ft., and the
slabs can be set out 6 ft. from centre to centre. Where the long sides
of the slabs are against the walls and the basins are sunk into the
slabs, there must be at least 7 ft. 6 in. from basin to basin. In the
case of slabs at right angles to the walls, the basins are best placed
between the slabs.
It is an excellent plan to provide a slight screen in one corner of the
washing room, behind which the entering bather may, if he chooses, have
a warm spray from a large rose before proceeding to the hot rooms.
In ladies' baths it is well to provide private shampooing recesses by
means of partitions of sufficient height, which may be of wood and
obscure glass. In this way any shampooing room may be rendered more
private. Upright marble slabs will often be found useful in dividing the
benches.
The walls and ceilings of the apartments now under consideration may, so
long as there be a dado of glazed ware, be lined in the same way as the
hot rooms. But as regards flooring, still more care is required to
prevent slipperiness. The soap and water that will be plentifully spilt
around, renders this precaution needful. Moreover, provision must be
made for drainage.
The flooring may be of rough tile mosaic, or simple tiles. Marble is too
slippery, and glazed tiles are wholly inadmissible. Marble mosaics,
roughly set, may be employed. The fall to which the floor is laid must
be determined by the position of the gullies.
The drainage system of a hot-air bath is a most important consideration.
In a place where the occupants are, literally, _breathing at every
pore_, it is obvious that too much care cannot be taken to prevent all
possible odours, and the slightest suspicion of an escape of deleterious
sewer gases. The traps employed in the washing rooms should be of the
best possible design and material, and proof against the evil known as
"siphoning." The gullies above them are best placed adjoining one of the
ventilators in the walls, at the floor level, as then a current of air
sweeps over them and up the extraction flues. It is not always that an
opportunity is afforded to cut off the waste water from the drainage;
where the bath rooms are above ground, however, this should be done if
practicable. Where possible, an excellent plan is to construct a culvert
under the basement floor. In this the whole of the pipes can be
placed--the soil-pipes, the lavatorium and plunge bath wastes, &c., and
access gained to them by a manhole. By this means a cut-off could be
effected between waste-pipes and the sewerage system. The culvert itself
could be ventilated by connecting it with an extraction flue. This is
all costly; but the builder of a Turkish bath will do well to be
prepared to lay out a liberal sum to perfect the system of drainage of
the establishment, and in the end, when the public have appreciated the
attention bestowed, he will thank his architect for having impressed
upon him the necessity for this extra expenditure.
THE DOUCHE ROOM.
The douche room should be a small chamber adjoining the lavatorium, and
fitted with a circular needle bath with shower or douche above, and any
other kind of spray bath that may be required. It should not be a dark,
cold, uninviting hole. For this reason, and also because a corner is
admirably adapted to receive an appliance of the shape of a needle bath,
it is better, often, to fit it up in an angle of the lavatorium. But of
these additions I shall have much to say anon, as one of the most
important points about a bath is the arrangement of the water-fittings.
Needle baths will be found indicated, on the plans given in these pages,
by an incompleted circle.
THE PLUNGE BATH.
Though, according to medical authorities, this does not form a
_necessary_ appendage to the hot-air bath, it is yet a feature that
_must_ be provided in the least pretentious of public establishments.
Ever since, and long before, Cicero observed, in a letter to his brother
Quintus, "Latiorem piscinam voluissem ubi jactata brachia non
offenderentur," men who have taken the hot-air bath have loved the ample
plunge. But although it should be sufficiently large for any bather to
take a dive, and for an expert to take a true "header," it is a vast
mistake to overdo it, and construct a small swimming bath, out of all
proportion with the other features of the establishment. One does not
look for such an adjunct: it is a great expense to keep up, requires a
lot of space, and tempts many to stay too long in the cold water. All
purposes will be served by a bath which will allow the bather to swim
without touching the sides with his hands, and to dive along under
water without danger of striking his head at the other end before he
rises to the surface. Wherever possible, the bath should be quite 25 ft.
in length and at least 7 ft. wide. In inferior institutions it may be as
narrow as 4 ft. and proportionately shorter; but in such a bath one can
only flounder about, and healthy bathers will go elsewhere.
In deciding the position of the plunge bath there is one point to be
strongly guarded against, and that is, that it be not stowed away in a
damp, cold-looking, cellar-like place. Such a position may be all very
well when the proprietor wishes to conceal dirty water; but from every
other point of view it is highly objectionable. The wise man will bring
his bath forward into the lightest possible position, where its clear,
limpid waters will look enticing instead of repelling. For preference,
it should be placed where the bather will take it naturally, _en route_
to the frigidarium, as at the Charing Cross baths, previously
illustrated. In baths all on one level, it is convenient to place the
bath partly in the lavatorium and partly in the frigidarium; but, to
most persons, the necessity for passing under the inevitable partition
and flap spoils the full enjoyment of the plunge. If placed within the
frigidarium, and approached by a door from the lavatorium, some sort of
a screen should be provided over the bath, as, at times, the apparition
appearing at the above door, in full view of the occupants of the
cooling-room, is somewhat ludicrous.
The demands of decency must be borne constantly in mind by the architect
of a Turkish bath. If the bather, on leaving the plunge bath, finds
himself in the frigidarium, he must ascend the steps under hanging
towels. The arrangement that will be found the most convenient--a direct
importation from the East--is to suspend a hoop from the ceiling, and
from this hang cords attached to towels. The hoop can be swung by an
attendant over the end of the bath, and in it the bather can dry himself
and be wrapped in towels before proceeding to his couch.
Whether the plunge bath be placed in a separate chamber, in the
lavatorium, or partly in the frigidarium, its construction will remain
essentially the same. If not in shape and size, in other respects it is
a small swimming bath. The weight and pressure of the water must be
remembered. A good foundation must be prepared for the bath, with a
thick layer of concrete passing well under the side walls and covering
the whole floor. The side walls should be built of concrete and lined
with white glazed bricks. In certain soils, the excavation for the bath
may be puddled with advantage, but if properly constructed, this should
be unnecessary. The bottom of the bath need not be flat, as the most
economical method of constructing a plunge bath is to make its deepest
part about two-thirds of its length from the end at which the bather
enters. This may be about 4 ft. 6 in. in depth from bottom to
water-line. From this point the floor will slope towards either end,
gradually towards the entering end, and more rapidly towards the exit.
At either end, where the depth of water should be about 3 ft, must be
provided steps for ascent and descent. If the bath be not more than 6
ft. wide, these should occupy the whole width, and be of marble or slabs
of some cheaper material on brick bearers, or they may be built solid.
A coping of marble, stone, or purpose-made bricks must be placed on the
side walls; and, if the bath be in the cooling room, this may
advantageously be raised several inches to protect from splashing. On
the coping may be required metal standards and a neat hand-railing. A
water-supply pipe and screw-down tap, an overflow and a waste-pipe will
be needed, all of which I have more particularly specified hereinafter.
The plunge bath is at times a source of two difficulties--it may leak,
and it may be below the level of drain. The first evil is the result of
an error in design, or of bad workmanship; the latter is unavoidable.
The following method of constructing a plunge bath has been adopted with
perfect success:--On the bed of concrete prepared for its floor, erect
side walls of concrete, and on the floors and walls thus formed spread
two distinct layers of asphalt, covering all and running up to the
underside of coping. Against the sides build half-brick walls in cement,
with glazed face, and lay the floor with glazed bricks flat. The general
principles of this construction I show in the accompanying illustration.
Where the bath is lower than the drain, all that can be done is to drain
out as much as possible and pump the remaining water from a "sump"
provided in a suitable position. By raising the plunge bath chamber a
few feet, the bottom of bath may, in some cases, be just kept above the
drain level; but steps must then be placed between it and the
washing-room, and steps in such places are dangerous, being very liable
to become slippery.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
[Illustration: A Plunge Bath.]
THE FRIGIDARIUM OR COOLING ROOM, AND DRESSING ACCOMMODATION FOR BATHERS.
Dressing and cooling accommodation in a public bath may be provided in
one of the following ways:--1. A separate frigidarium and distinct
dressing room, arranged (_a_) in direct communication with one another,
or (_b_) connected by a lobby, corridor, or ante-room;--2. A combination
apartment arranged (_a_) with dressing-boxes around the walls, and
couches in the centre, or _vice versâ_; (_b_) with Oriental divans;
(_c_) with couches screened off in pairs or singly by dwarf wood
screens; (_d_) with a few private dressing-boxes, a few couches, and a
few lounges, and easy cushioned chairs; and (_e_) as a simple room with
couches placed therein, by the side of which the bather will undress,
and on which he will recline after his bath.
The first of these arrangements may be admirably adapted to
unpretentious establishments, where, however, it is wished to employ
separate rooms; the second (1, _b_) is only suitable for elaborate baths
of the highest class, in which it may be adopted with excellent and with
practical results. Of the combination arrangements (_a_) has little to
recommend it; (_b_) is expensive and extravagant of space, though it may
be made very effective in appearance and very pleasing and comfortable;
(_c_) is suitable for ladies' baths; (_d_) is very practicable, and
gives the apartment a pleasant, homely look; and (_e_) is best for cheap
baths, being the simplest arrangement possible, wholly unsuited,
however, to establishments of any pretension.
If the plan include a separate cooling room, it is nothing more than a
spacious, cheerful apartment, designed with a view to the reception of
couches, and the usual accessories designed in connection with it--the
refreshment room, hairdresser and chiropodist's saloon. If this separate
cooling room be provided, a distinct apodyterium, with little
dressing-boxes, must be designed. If the bath be small and easily
managed, curtains may be employed to screen those undressing; but if it
be a large establishment, with a number of bathers constantly dressing
and undressing, doors must be provided, and these must be under lock and
key in charge of an attendant. Each dressing-box must be fitted with a
seat, rack, and shelf; and looking-glasses, toilet-tables, and
lavatories for general use must be placed in the room, which must be
designed in direct connection with the frigidarium.
This should be spacious, light, lofty, and perfectly ventilated, the
vitiated air being here extracted at the ceiling level, since the
temperature at which the apartment will be kept is an ordinary
one--_over_ that of the exterior air when the weather is cold, and
_under_ when it is at all hot.
Where the cooling room and dressing room do not immediately adjoin, the
means of communication should be carefully studied, so that it may be
free from cross draughts of cold air, and so that it may be dignified
and room-like--not a mere passage. It may have the air of an ante-room,
but must not be crossed by entering bathers who have not divested
themselves of their boots or shoes. Slamming doors should be avoided,
having regard to the exposed condition of the bathers.
In spite of the theoretical and sentimental advantages of separate
cooling and dressing-rooms, a combined frigidarium and apodyterium seems
to have found favour latterly.
Personally, I would gladly enter a protest against the employment of the
combined cooling and dressing room as a decidedly uncleanly habit. It is
certainly not pleasant to know that, having obtained perfect physical
cleanliness, both inwardly and outwardly, one must return to couches
whereon previous bathers may, as likely as not, have, however
temporarily, deposited more or less of their underclothing or
superimposed raiment. But economy of construction is nowadays a question
that must be considered at every step, and the combination apartment
saves both space and materials, and is also economical as regards
attendance. Moreover, it must be confessed that a cooling room provided
with elegant and spacious divans, wherein the bather dresses and
undresses, may be made very pleasing to the eye and withal comfortable
and convenient. The dressing-boxes, too, of the separate apodyterium are
not conducive to the general sense of comfort.
In arranging the plan of a combined cooling and dressing room it is
necessary to first decide as to how the apartment will be
furnished--viz. which of the plans above mentioned shall be adopted.
This is much a matter of individual taste, though, as I have said above,
the divan is to be preferred in many cases. It is often well to provide
a cooling room of what may be called the "picturesque" order, or the
reverse of stiff formality. By this I mean such an arrangement as 2,
_d_. The bather can then choose between reclining in semi-privacy or in
the open, or, again, resting in an easy chair. With a handsome plunge
bath and a pretty little fountain, such rooms may be rendered very
attractive.
Whatever be the plan adopted, it must, I repeat, be carefully thought
out previously, and not left as an afterthought. The size of the
reclining couch will be found to be the governing feature. This should
be 6 ft. 6 in. long by 2 ft. 6 in. wide, or 6 ft. by 2 ft., according as
luxury or economy is the end in view. Next to this must be considered
the space allowed for each bather to dress in, and also the routes for
bathers and attendants. Four feet between the couches is a sufficient
space where couches are screened off in pairs.
Couches may be arranged in pairs or singly. _Two pairs_ of couches
screened off with only a small space between of 4 ft. or so is an
objectional arrangement. It is difficult to explain why this is so; but
the bather who has made one of four strangers thus closely penned up
will appreciate the objection. An arrangement of four couches must
expand into a spacious divan.
At Fig. 5 are shown different ways of arranging couches in the
frigidarium. A shows the objectionable arrangement spoken of; B is the
comfortable, spacious divan; C the method of placing couches in pairs;
and D is a private couch suitable for ladies' baths.
The floor of a cooling room must be boarded. In a bath where cost is
subordinate to excellence, a parquetry floor may be provided, and mats
employed, as cleaner than fixed carpets. The walls and ceilings may be
treated in any manner that may be chosen--plastered, papered, or
decorated with colour.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.
Methods of arranging Couches in Cooling Room.]
Any shaped room may be adopted as a combined frigidarium and apodyterium
so long as it fulfils the essential points--i.e. that it be spacious,
capable of easy and perfect ventilation, and of being kept cool, light,
and cheerful. In the cooling room the bather will often stay longer than
in any other apartment, and no pains should be spared to render it
healthy, comfortable, and attractive. The hygienic points to be attended
to are, that there be an abundant supply of fresh cool air and an
effective withdrawal of vitiated air; for the _cold-air bath_ in the
cooling room is, in its way, as all-important as the bath of hot air.
The freshness of the air is of equally vital importance, as much of the
_invigorating_ effect of the bath--that effect which to the minds of the
uninformed is _weakening_--results from submitting the heated skin to
volumes of cold air.[2] In arranging any screens or screen walls in the
cooling room, therefore, regard must be had to the method of
ventilation, that there be no stagnant corners and recesses. The scheme
of ventilation must be decided by the nature of the apartment and its
position. In most cases the air is best admitted through the windows,
fitted with fanlights falling backwards from the top, and extracted by a
powerful self-acting exhaust at the ceiling level. In some positions
extraction flues will have to be built, and, in others, flues of large
area must conduct to the source from which the fresh air is drawn. Under
certain circumstances perfect ventilation will not be obtainable without
the aid of a powerful blowing fan-wheel driven by a motor of some sort,
and running so as to exhaust the vitiated air. The means does not so
much matter so long as the end be gained, and an ample supply of cool
air obtained. A warm, close "cooling room" is worse than useless. In
such places the bather will break out into renewed perspiration, and lie
perspiring for hours, and become greatly weakened thereby, with a good
chance of taking a chill on leaving the establishment.
Cooling rooms will always remain sufficiently _warm_ in all weathers if
they be in any ordinary relation to the heated apartments; but in the
height of summer care is required to keep them sufficiently cool. Where
simple, everyday precautions will not suffice, the air itself must be
cooled, either by passing it through a cold chamber or over ice-boxes in
inlet tubes, or through a water-spray. Only in exceptional cases,
however, is it necessary to resort to such measures, as, contrary to the
teachings of theorists, it has been found in practice that the proper
temperature for the cooling room of a hot-air bath varies in different
states of the weather, and should not remain constant all the year
round.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: Not _draughts_. The ancient Romans, it is curious to note,
would walk in the open air after the bath; and both the _Frigidarium_ of
the Romans and the _Mustaby_ of the Turks were, and are, open to the
heavens.]